The Feel Good Drag
by JB Sterban
Summary: It's been a month since the CDC and hope's at a low point when a glimmer of it pops up, taking in the remaining survivors. As grateful as they are, they notice that this girl has two sides to her, and Glenn intends on getting to know them both. Glenn/OC
1. Prologue

**A/N: **I fucking _hate _Mary-Sues, and I'm trying really hard not to make this OC one, so feel free to flame me with all the stupid shit she does that's just oh too perfect, please? I need to fix it! Enjoy, R&R!

It had been a month since the failure that was the CDC. Things had changed, but probably for the worse. They'd lost two more, Andrea and T-Dog, in a Walker attack when they'd broken down on a back road around Des Moines two weeks before, and had now made it as far north as Douglas, Wyoming. It was getting colder, and everyone was getting quieter. Even Carl and Sophia, who would speak animatedly of the things they missed or play cards, barely said a word anymore. Conversation only went so far as "Let's stop to make camp here," or "Who's going to take watch?" and the like.

Which is why no one really knew how to react when they found the first living person for over 1,500 miles.

Shane and Rick had gone to scout the area surrounding the small camp that had been set up, and came back followed by a woman who looked like she hadn't seen one day of the apocalypse. For one, she looked _clean. _She wore black jeans and hiking boots, and a red sweatshirt, with her long black hair covered by a purple beanie. When she came closer, they saw the silenced gun shoved into her belt, and took back the opinion.

Rick spoke up. "This is Jessica." She waved. "She lives a half a mile south, and we're going to stay with her." Was all that was said.

Everyone got everything back into the cars and Jessica got in the front seat of the RV, directing the way. A few minutes later, they arrived at a large farmhouse with no other houses for miles. Jessica got out, opening the tall chain link fence that surrounded the immediate property and the RV, Daryl on his bike, and the Jeep drove in. Jessica locked back up and invited everyone inside.

For a few seconds, everyone could forget what was going on in the world. It was so _normal _inside the house. Everything was in place, there was even a TV, sun shone in through the windows. And then they all saw the small holes in the walls where boards had once been nailed over the windows, and realization came back, but they still knew that this was better than being constantly on the move, camping in the wilderness.

"You can all sit down, if you want." Jessica said with a smile. She was very quiet and it was painfully obvious that she was unsure how to go about speaking to all these strangers. The house was meant for many residents; there were three couches and four armchairs, and god knew how many rooms (there had been quite a few windows). Everyone sat down and Jessica spoke again. "So I know you've been on the move from Atlanta for a month and I know who Rick and Shane are, but I don't know the rest of you."

Introductions were made and the tension started seeping out of the room. "Have you been here this entire time?" Carol asked.

Jessica nodded her head, pulling off her hat and running a hand through her hair. She couldn't have been older than twenty five. "Almost, I was working in my dad's gun shop when all this happened. In Seattle. These guys in riot gear came in and I hid behind the counter. They cleared the room and left, and a couple seconds later I heard screaming and people getting shot. My boyfriend came and got me after that and we left. A day later I was here."

"Where's your boyfriend?" Sophia asked, blurting the words everyone was going to keep from saying.

Jessica bit her lip. "He, uh," she swallowed. "I lost him. In Sheridan." Sophia looked to the floor, realizing she'd asked the wrong thing. Jessica bounced back though. "That's in the past now. What matters is now, and now I have nine people who look tired and hungry in my living room, and I'm doing nothing about it." She stood up. "There are five empty rooms upstairs, and six down here. They all only have one bed, so feel free to move any bed from another room into one if you want, and there're five bathrooms. I'll turn on the generator so you can all have nice hot showers, kay?"

Everyone got a little excited at the mention of the word shower. Everyone mumbled thank you's and dispersed, except Glenn. Glenn hadn't said one word since Des Moines, besides his name only a few minutes before. His eyes were blank most of the time, and it looked like he'd given up hope. Jessica smiled warmly at him. "Glenn, right?" He nodded then stepped forward, pulling her into a crushing hug and burying his face in her neck, despite the four inch height difference. She froze for a second, unsure of what to do, then wrapped her arms around his waist, squeezing just as tight. "Thank you." Glenn said and pulled away, walking upstairs.

Jessica took a deep breath and went to the basement, flipping on the generator, sending the darkening house into brightness. She busied herself in the kitchen, using the power while she could to make dinner, and Lori was the first to come in. "Let me help." She said, an unsure smile on her face. She was eternally grateful to this girl but didn't know if she should wholly trust her. Jessica nodded and Lori began opening a can of peas. "You have no idea how much this means to us."

Jessica nodded. "I get the gist of it. Don't thank me, though. You shouldn't have to thank a person for being, well, a person." She turned to look at Lori, and the older woman was taken aback at the look in Jessica's eyes, the bright kind sparkle had turned dark. "You have a child, and a husband. You have family who you love very much and I don't doubt that the group you've been travelling with this whole time has kind of become like a family to you. You all have somebody, and I'm the one out here all by myself. The first thing that popped into my head when I saw Rick and Shane was that I wasn't going to be alone, wasn't going to talk to myself anymore, wasn't going to question the point of staying alive when I have no one else to live for, was going to have other people looking out for me. Then I saw a motley crew of tired, scared people and giving you a safe place was second in my mind. So don't thank me, please, because my first intentions were pretty damn selfish." She glanced down. "I have a few cars around back, and the mall on the edge of town is completely deserted. We can go tomorrow and get you all some new clothes, parts for your cars, anything else you need." She turned back around to the pots on the stove.

Lori was at a loss for words, but went back to what she was doing as soon as Rick came in. She had a little more respect for Jessica now, though she still wasn't sure about trusting her.

A half hour later, everyone was seated at the large table in the dining room, eating a hot meal and they felt amazing. For the first time since the CDC everyone wore a smile and chattered, though the scene seemed eerily familiar, which is why when Jessica offered wine or beer, everyone politely said no.

After everybody had eaten and realized how exhausted they were, Jessica explained the power situation. "The generator runs on gasoline, and while it's easy to go to town and get, I still try to conserve as much as I can, so I shut it off at night. There's a flashlight in every nightstand in case you can't find your way in the dark. Water runs without it. If you get cold, this is an old house, every room has a fireplace." She watched as Carl and Sophia were practically falling asleep where they stood and she grinned. "Nite." For the second time, everyone went to their rooms. Jessica cleaned up and shut off the generator, plunging the house into darkness.


	2. Caught Off Guard

**A/N: **Soooooo, I gotta clear up the confusion! The group is not in Georgia anymore, they started moving north and lost Andrea and T-Dog in Des Moines, Iowa. They kept going west and have now hit Wyoming, and the Sheridan that I'm talking about is also in Wyoming. Sorry. R&R!

Carol was the first to come downstairs the next morning, around ten. She was going to get a glass of water when Jessica walked in through the back door, bundled up against the rain that pattered down on the house. She put her hood down when she saw Carol. "Oh, good morning." She welcomed.

"Morning." Carol said back, filling a glass from the tap and leaning against the counter.

"Did Lori tell you what we might do today?" Jessica asked, hopping up on the counter. Carol shook her head. "Oh, well, I was thinking we could go get you guys anything you need from the mall. Clothes were probably the main thing. It's starting to get pretty cold."

"Oh, in the middle of the city, though?" Carol held a hand to her chest, reluctant.

"You don't have to come if you don't think it's safe, but I've been there a lot, and there are no walkers inside, but there are always a couple stragglers outside. You could write a list maybe, of some of the things you or Sophia want and write down the sizes and we could find them for you. I don't expect more than a couple people to come with of course." She smiled. "I've just been waiting for everyone to get up, so I can get a list together and anyone who'll want to come."

Carol felt a little flustered, really. Grateful, yes, but it was quite strange going from eating squirrel around a campfire to sipping tap water and deciding what this girl would go _shopping _for. "Well, thank you. Very much. I'll go get Sophia. Do you have a pen and paper I can write it all on?"

"Yeah, it should be in your nightstand." Jessica got off the counter and headed for the living room and Carol saw the barrel of a gun sticking out of Jessica's belt.

"How long have you been up?" Carol asked, wondering why Jessica had been outside.

"A few hours. I went to check on the car." She said quietly, a lie evident in her voice, pulling her jacket down to cover the gun before walking back into the living room, leaving Carol to feel a little less safe as she quickly bypassed Jessica to go upstairs.

Doors started opening and closing and people started emerging from their rooms, looking very rested. Daryl was the first and Jessica gave him a small wave from her position on one of the recliners after he said good morning, followed by Dale and Shane, then Rick, Lori and Carl, Carol and Sophia, and lastly Glenn. Lori sat next to Jessica and Jessica spoke up. "So, I'm going to the mall." She said nonchalantly. "I figured anyone who wants to come can; I'll give you a gun. Anyone who doesn't, write me a list of what you want, because I'm going to get whatever you guys need." She raised her eyebrows. "I can bring three, who wants to come?"

Glenn immediately raised his hand, along with Daryl, as did Rick. "I don't need a gun." Daryl said.

Jessica nodded and stood up. "Alright. We'll leave in a half hour. Feel free to raid the kitchen and make what you want; I'll turn the generator on." She left, turning down the hallway by the stairs, and going down to the basement. Glenn followed closely behind.

"So is this like your little cave?" His words startled her as he came down the stairs of the now brightly lit basement. Tables lined the wall, guns covering them all with their respective ammo on the ground below. "Holy shit."

Jessica chuckled. "Yeah. Raided the back of the gun shop before I left. Four big ass duffel bags full of this shit." Glenn gave a little chuckle. "Pick whatever you want as long as it has a silencer on it." She patted his shoulder as he looked with confused wonder about the room. Jessica saw that he had no idea what he was looking for and snorted. "Here." She handed him her gun. "Safety off," she indicated. "On. Release the clip," She pressed the button by the trigger and the magazine fell out, but she pushed it back in. "Extra, but I doubt you'll need it. " She handed him another magazine from her back pocket and turned, picking up another gun and loading it, putting both the gun and the magazine in her belt and back pocket. "I'll go get Rick."

Glenn rolled his eyes as Jessica left with a smirk, but his eyes wandered about the room and settled on a little table in the corner, on top of which sat a dusty BlackBerry and a black purse. Glenn was about to go over and invade some privacy, but footsteps were heard on the stairs and he quickly moved away as Rick, Jessica and Daryl came down.

Rick and Daryl went on a gun-crazy redneck spree while Jessica sat at the foot of the stairs, looking at the lists she had been given. A few minutes passed and Glenn realized he'd been staring. He tore his gaze away, his face reddening just as Daryl and Rick were happy with their choices and they went back upstairs. Everyone was sitting around the living room, eating breakfast that Dale had made. "See you all in a bit." Jessica said, walking out the back door into the light rain, followed by Glenn, Daryl and Rick.

"What the fuck is that?" Daryl asked, looking at a tan Humvee that resembled those they had seen outside the CDC, only it was spattered with blood.

Jessica kept walking toward a white SUV and got in the front seat. "How do you think I got all the way from Seattle to Wyoming?" Glenn got in the passenger seat, earning a scowl from Daryl as he and Rick got in back. She held her hand behind her. "Rick, you take Lori and Carl's, Daryl, you take Shane's." She handed another one to Glenn. "You get Dale's, and I have Carol and Sophia's." She started the car up and they pulled around the house, Glenn getting out to open the gate, and then they were on the road.

For Glenn, Rick and Daryl, it was an overwhelming feeling to be driving somewhere knowing they had a safe place to come back to. They pulled up by the mall a few minutes later and Jessica parked right by the back entrance to the movie theater.

They all got out and Jessica drew her gun, cocking it and prompting the others to follow suit. Jessica was the first to enter looking around and taking a sharp right into the employee area, then through another doorway and they then found themselves in the security room of the whole mall. "Take a good look for a minute; make sure you don't see any walkers." There had to have been about seventy screens that held absolutely no movement.

"I see one." Rick said, pointing to a walker that was limping through the food court.

"Alright, that's at the complete opposite end of the mall, so if you go near there, watch out for that guy. Find some bags, or backpacks or even a fucking shopping cart if you want, and when you're done, you get your shit in the car and come back in here and watch for whoever's still looking around." Jessica was already moving for the door and the other three followed behind her. They entered the main part of the mall and split up.

Everyone was rushing, Rick and Jessica filling large suitcases with whatever they could find that resembled what was on the list, while Glenn filled two backpacks, and Daryl had been unique, choosing a bat bag from the sporting goods store (grabbing quite a few arrows for his crossbow before leaving). They'd occasionally cross each other and nod or wave. Once they'd gotten what was needed, they started looking around for things they wanted, nice things. Glenn was the first to finish, throwing the overstuffed backpack into the SUV and heading back into the surveillance room. He saw that Daryl and Jessica were coming back towards where he was, and that Rick was beginning to leave the Macy's at the west end of the mall.

He also saw three walkers coming in around the corner towards where Jessica and Daryl would have their backs to. "Shit!" he hissed and sprinted out of the room. Daryl saw him running and quickly ducked behind a candy machine, but Jessica only just came out of Spencer's and saw Daryl. "What ar-" She dropped the bag as Glenn seized her from behind, covering her mouth and pulling her into a nook, hidden from the walkers just as they emerged. He lifted his hand and whispered, "Look in the mirror."

Jessica looked up at the circular mirror poised near the ceiling and she could clearly see the three figures hobbling towards them. She gasped, "Dary-"

"Daryl knows, shh." His arms were still wrapped around her but he didn't remove them as they both watched in the mirror Daryl pull out his gun and get ready to shoot the walkers. Speaking of guns, Jessica's was digging into Glenn's crotch.

Three quiet gunshots were barely a pin dropping as Daryl quickly dispatched the walkers. Jessica and Glenn slid out of the gap, Jessica bending for the suitcase and pulling out of Glenn's grasp. "How did you two know they were there?"

"I saw them on the cameras, Daryl saw me running out here to warn you, or shoot them. You just happened to be right where you should be when they came." He smirked.

Jessica frowned as Daryl approached them. "Thanks. Good shooting, Daryl." She looked around. "Where's Rick?"

"Run!" Rick was sprinting towards them, bag thrown over his shoulder. "Run, they saw me through the fucking window!"

The other three needed no more incentive as they gripped what they had and started running towards the exit, just as a hoard of walkers came around the corner. Glenn had left the back open so they threw everything in, rushing to get in the car and shut the doors. Jessica had just gotten the key in the ignition when the walkers followed out the door. She slammed on the gas and everyone was thrown back against their seats as she hit the street at a full eighty.

She didn't slow down until they were on the dirt road into her property. "What the fuck was that?" Daryl growled at Rick.

Jessica answered for him, cutting him off. "A success. We got what we needed, and we're not dead." Her fingers were shaking on the steering wheel and she had a smile on her face, watching Glenn open the gate. He shut it behind them and hopped back in the car. He gave Jessica a weird look as they circled the house.

"Why do you look so happy?" He asked incredulously.

Jessica chuckled, "That's the scariest fucking thing I've seen since Black Friday last year. A swarm of angry shoppers is a lot like a hoard of hungry walkers." She set her head on the steering wheel, falling into a fit of stifled giggles. Glenn smiled and shook his head, remembering Black Friday when he'd worked at a Target in high school. Jessica was right.

Rick just shook his head and got out, followed by Daryl who quipped, "You got a weird sense of humor, girl."

Jessica took a deep breath and grinned at Glenn as they got out, grabbing their bags out of the back before going inside, where the others were waiting. Jessica gave the suitcase to Carol while Glenn tossed one of the backpacks at Dale. "How'd it go?" He asked.

Daryl looked to Rick. "This dumb-"

"It went fine." Glenn cut him off. "We got everything quick and got out just fine." Glenn gave Daryl a pointed look, one that said to let it go, and surprisingly, the older man did.

Jessica broke the tense silence. "I'll be back in a little bit," Already side-stepping toward the front door. "Gonna go check something outside."

"I'll come with." Glenn piped up, following close behind and they slipped out the front door.

Jessica turned to look at Glenn with narrowed eyes. "You have not given me one moment to myself today."

Glenn raised an eyebrow. "Good thing I didn't or else you'd have had walkers on your ass then, wouldn't you?"

Jessica rightfully looked to the ground, ashamed. "I could've shot them." She grumbled quietly. "Fuck, you're right. I'm sorry, I haven't even really thanked you for that. So, thank you." She gave a half hearted smile.

Smirking, Glenn shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. "No problem. So what're we checking?"

"Making sure the walkers haven't followed us all the way out here." She said off-handedly, pulling out her gun and checking it, keeping it ready in her hand.

"Wait what?" Glenn yelped, stopping in his tracks.

"What do you mean what? They may've followed the road, not to mention the underground buzz of the generator draws them towards the property." She clarified, still moving. Glenn caught up, incredulous.

"You're fucking kidding."

She shook her head. "'Conserve fuel,' you think I give a flying fuck about conserving fuel? Global warming isn't going to kill me when cannibalistic corpses are the more immediate fate here, which means I keep the loud ass thing off as much as possible so they don't come hobbling in. I bet Al Gore made this fucking virus thing, whatever it is, so people stopped using fossil fuels." She then shook her head. "Jesus, God in heaven, I have been by myself way too fucking long. I figured I could leave it on during the day, because it's almost three quarters of a mile away from the house, so they won't come to the house, the one on the opposite side of it, at least. But the ones on the road, we do have to worry about. They won't come without a reason and we were a damn good reason. I refuse to get caught off guard by them because the one time I was, it got someone killed."

Glenn got out his gun, choosing to think of things other than getting caught off guard. "So what does that mean, all summed up?"

"All summed up? The dozen or so that chased us in the mall are the only ones we need to worry about, if at all. I doubt they'll come two miles out, and they're so slow that it'll be nightfall by the time they hit anywhere near here and the genny will be off by then, and unless they come down the dirt turn-off, they won't hear it in the first place, and what could possibly lead them down here? They're drawn to the town, to the few lights and sounds that are still going. You and I are just seeing if they're still on the road." She smiled as they crossed the asphalt.

"How are we going to do that?" Glenn felt a lot less anxious, but anxious nonetheless. Jessica stopped and grinned at him, and Glenn realized where they were: the base of an extremely tall lookout tower, and the ladder was in front of them. He glared. "Ladies first."

They began climbing, and Glenn's was immediately affixed on, to put it delicately, the ass that was staring at him right in the face. A small smile graced his face and he tried not to laugh at his lecherousness. "Enjoying the view, A-Rod?" Jessica called down as they neared the top.

"Hey I think I can see the moon from here!" Glenn yelled excitedly, earning an embarrassing snort from Jessica.

"Very funny. Touché, sir, touché." She gasped out between giggles. They made it inside the tower and Jessica leaned against the wall, panting. She groaned, coughing a little. "These smoker lungs are not meant for the apocalypse man." Glenn stifled a laugh. "Okay," she caught her breath and picked up a pair of dusty binoculars off the floor. She scanned the road and Glenn noticed that you really could see the town from here. "Looks like we're good. They turned around, I can only see four or five anywhere near the road, and they don't seem too inclined to come down it."

"Can I see?" Glenn asked curiously. Jessica nodded and handed them over. Glenn focused on where Jessica was looking and let out a breath. "Wow. The city's in fucking ruins."

"Fucking depressing, right?" She muttered. "Come on, let's go back, we've been gone long enough." She smirked at Glenn and gestured for him to go. "Ladies first."

He shook his head and started descending. "Fine, I'll lead by example!"

Jessica laughed. "Sure you will. I got a cheeky sense of humor, right?"

With a scoff, Glenn sang, "Bah dum ching!" Jessica flipped him off. "I refuse to go down on this huge fucking thing making ass puns the whole way."

"That's what she said!" Glenn said nothing back until they got to the bottom.

"Told you." He grinned up at Jessica who was five or six rungs above him and she gasped.

"Climb! Now now now!" Glenn didn't question it and jumped up the ladder until he was a good twenty feet above the ground before he looked down. Two walkers stood scrabbling at the ladder.

"At least we know they can't climb." He muttered.

"Oh yeah, at least." Jessica was busy climbing around to the other side of the ladder and sitting, checking her gun before standing on a rung and leaning out, aiming for the walkers. "Hug the ladder, dude, don't wanna hit you."

Glenn pressed himself flat against the bars as Jessica felled the walkers easily. Glenn looked all around him, making sure there were no more before starting down again. "Where the hell did they come from?"

They were on the ground before Jessica answered. "They were probably on the cliff," she pointed about a hundred feet to their right, in the opposite direction of the city, at a cliff that had a not so steep hill that ended right at the bottom of the tower. "And saw us climbing down. There's a farm up there that got attacked. Those two have probably been living on the livestock. Let's get back. I've had my fill of close calls for the day." Glenn saw that Jessica was a little pale, and she was still clutching her gun with white knuckles. He said nothing, just followed closely behind her, opting to leave her to her thoughts which, he had no doubt, were revolving around the someone that got killed. It occurred to him with a little wave of nausea that that someone had just almost been him.


	3. Like a Lazy Ocean Hugs the Shore

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews! (Btw guys, it's really cool when you add this as your favorite story, but I'm a feedback whore, so don't be afraid to review.)

The day was spent trying to relax and exploring the house, which Jessica invited everyone to do. ("This was built to be a nursing home, but the owners never got the license. So there are board games and books galore.") However, _trying _being the key word, as everyone was still very cautious, the transition from walking meat pies to warm and cozy being a quick one. Carl and Sophia were the fastest to bounce back, going slack-jawed and attacking the shelves of DVD's on the walls when Jessica told them that with the power, the kids could watch movies on the seventy two inch television_. _They had gone through_ Finding Nemo, Wall-E, _and were just starting _Monsters, Inc. _while Rick, Lori and Carol, accustomed to watching children's movies, sat and watched with warm smiles but open ears and fidgeting hands.

Daryl had found a stack of Harley-Davidson magazines, and Shane and Dale were playing every card game they could think of in the kitchen, not too interested in cartoons. Glenn was scanning the giant bookshelf upstairs, looking to find something to read to occupy his time, after his brain was screaming at him to stop watching Pixar movies. He never really could read without music though. Maybe that's why he'd sucked at college.

"You realize those are all medical texts, right?"

He turned, and there stood a freshly showered Jessica, her wet hair up in a messy bun. She looked fucking cozy, in a giant t-shirt and sweatpants that were all but falling off of her. Glenn frowned, recalling he forgot any sort of sweatpants or pajamas. "I noticed some of them were, but I didn't think all of them were." He then noticed that Jessica had a sleeve of tattoos on her right arm. Glenn had never really had an opinion on girls with tattoos, but it would be a lie to say he thought the ink on this particular girl wasn't fucking awesome.

She smiled apologetically. "Yeah. I brought them here like two years ago." She grabbed his elbow and pulled him down the hall.

"Two years?" Glenn raised an eyebrow as he was pulled into the room next to his own, which he assumed was Jessica's and she pointed at a significantly smaller bookshelf which held Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and Bronte, among others. He began looking through them while waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, this is my boyfriend's parents' house. His mom was gonna become a registered nurse and the program she was in wouldn't pay for her shit so I gave her mine." Jessica lay on her stomach on the bed with her feet up in the air, her chin on her arms.

"Wait, so you're a doctor?" Glenn looked incredulously at her. She looked nothing like any doctor he'd ever seen.

"Nurse." She grinned.

Glenn abandoned the books, more interested in a true story rather than fiction for now, and joined Jessica on the bed, laying on his back next to her. "So that's what you did before all this? You worked at a hospital?"

"Nope, prison."

"You were in prison?"

Jessica giggled, "No, I was the night nurse at a prison, dude. Washington State Penitentiary. Once treated the Green River Killer for the flu."

"You're absolutely insane." Glenn shook his head at the ceiling. "Weren't you ever scared?"

"At first, then I realized that as long as you're nice, no one's gonna hurt you. One of the inmates serving life, Jackson, was eighty six and senile and told me that 'all the young'ins can't wait to catch a cold.'" They both laughed at that. "That's where I met my boyfriend."

"Your boyfriend was an inmate?"

"Good god, you jump to the worst conclusions. No, he was visiting his uncle and he slipped and fell walking out and cracked his head open. It was love at first stitch. Bah dum ching. Nah, but I did find out _later _that Chris was in jail for grand theft auto. Of a cop car. With handcuffs on. Behind him. He steered with his teeth."

"You sure have wonderful taste in men." Glenn deadpanned, earning a half-asked kick to the leg.

"I'm sitting here with you, aren't you?"

"Well played." Glenn rolled his eyes. "What did mommy and daddy think of Saint Christopher?"

"Daddy loved him, as did mommy. I think he flirted with her more than he did me, just to get on her good side. He didn't have any sisters, and his mom left when he was little, so he didn't develop that familial structure with women, he just developed the make-em-swoon technique."

"Did you have any siblings?" Glenn wasn't sure why he was asking all of these questions, but he wanted to know why this girl was who she was.

"An older brother, Matt, thirty five, and a little sister, Rebecca, 14. They were on a cruise with my parents when this happened. I like to think that they're on a ship in the Caribbean, sipping daiquiris." She chuckled, rolling on her back, arm to arm and hip to hip with Glenn. "What do you miss most?"

"That'd be my cat, Button." Glenn said with a sigh. "What about you?"

"Chinese food, easy." She said with severity in her voice. "If I die before eating _at least_ an entire carton of BBQ pork fried rice from Panda Garden, I will send _myself _to hell."

"Nice. How old are you?"

"Twenty three. You?"

"Twenty seven."

"Really?" She scoffed and sat up, pulling off Glenn's hat (which he had found a nice replacement for at the mall). "Oh. I see it. Thought you were younger than me, Ichiro."

"Hey, I'm your elder, you better respect me." He quipped with a smirk, snatching the hat back, and Jessica stuck out her tongue. "Is that why you were in Spencer's?" Glenn pointed at the barbell that glinted in the middle of Jessica's tongue.

"Oh. Yeah. Why?" She raised an eyebrow. "Did you think I was buying sex toys?"

Glenn blushed, "Well, no, I mean-I assumed-Spencer's has shit like that-"

"They also have cheap jewelry. Old habits die hard, bud. You have a dirty mind." She shook her head with a smirk and got up. "What happened to finding a book?"

"You said you came all the way from Seattle to here in that armored car. What happened the day this started?" Glenn looked up at Jessica's back, where she'd practically frozen in place.

She sighed and came and sat back down, laying on her side to face Glenn. "Chris picked me up. He called me a few minutes after the SWAT team left and told me to put every gun I could get my hands on in duffel bags and he'd pick me up in back. So I hid in the storage room and did what I was told, getting all the guns that were in there while people raided the front. Most people don't realize in the heat of the moment that a gun shop's only guns aren't in front. I got four huge bags full; handguns, rifles, silencers, a fucking machine gun. I filled one bag alone with ammo. He came and picked me up in an armored car he stole. I didn't say one word for about four hours, but once we hit the pass, I threw up out the window maybe four or five times. I couldn't take seeing all the people we were practically running over, killing them faster than the walkers would've, and curled up in the backseat, and I guess I was so drained and scared and overwhelmed that I passed out."

"I'm gonna find you Sophia!" Carl yelled from the hallway. They were playing Hide and Seek.

Glenn turned his attention back to Jessica, who wasn't making eye contact. She had a far off look, like she wasn't even with him anymore. "When I woke up, maybe eight or nine hours later it was dark, and what woke me was the car door slamming. We were stopped at a gas station, and those monsters were all around the car. Chris was in the passenger seat. They'd bitten his neck and he'd just barely shut the door. I moved before I knew what I was doing, instinct taking over and covering the bite, checking for a pulse and turning on the overhead light to see if his eyes dilated. He was leaving fast, and he told me to go to his parents' farm in Douglas. We'd visited once before. He died a few seconds later. I'd seen what happened to the people who were bitten, seen them get back up. I started driving until I was out of that hoard and pushed Chris' body out just before he turned. I could see him getting up in the rearview.

"I got here and Tanya and Joe's car was gone, the lights were off, the fence was open, and the windows were boarded up. I had to break a window and shove the boards in just to get inside, so I threw the guns and got in myself. Walkers were starting to wander in from the forest, and the road. That car is loud as shit and breaking a window and screaming definitely didn't help. At least I'd remembered to lock the gate. I put the board back up and hid in the basement. I got there at sunrise, and there was one little window in the basement where I could see the sun. For twenty four hours, I sat there, clutching a gun to my chest, covered in blood, and staring at the light moving on the wall until it got dark, and then I kept staring until it was light again.

"I got up and went to the first floor, looking out the cracks in between the boards and I could see none of them were there, and I kind of just crumpled to the ground and started sobbing. I think I was there for like three hours, leaning against the door and crying into my knees. I tried to get on the computer and internet was down, I tried to call people and the phones weren't working, I tried turning on the TV and there was no signal. It wasn't until I turned on the radio that I found something out. I went through countless looped emergency broadcasts until I got to a live person and all I heard before something crashed and people started screaming was to stay inside, stay armed, because the military was failing. Then it was static."

She was obviously done and looked at Glenn again. "What about you? What happened to you the day it happened in Atlanta?"

Glenn let out a humorless chuckle. "I sped home, ran into a car in front of my apartment building and hid inside, barricaded the door and everything. I was a few floors up so I could see everything that was going on. It was horrible. I hid there for maybe a month and a half, two months. I lost track of time. I remember one day, it occurred to me that I should've been kicked out by now, because my student loans and shit income had taken a toll on my ability to keep my landlord happy. A few days later I saw my landlord trip over a barricade with only one arm. A little while after that I saw a group of people come into the city, and I left with them. Not much else to tell."

"What about _your _family? Girlfriend?" She raised an eyebrow. "Boyfriend?"

Glenn snorted. "My girlfriend of two years had just dumped me for the guitarist of some shitty local indie band. My mom, dad and little brother are dead, of that I'm sure."

"How are you so sure?" Jessica asked, her hand sliding into Glenn's. It was surprisingly warm. "They could be somewhere just like you are. Hidden away, away from the world and everything that's happened to it."

Glenn squeezed Jessica's hand a little, seeking the comfort the touch had brought him the day before, when he'd hugged her. "The power didn't go out until the next day. Apparently, the side of town they lived on had been hit first. When I got into the apartment, the last thing on my mind was my voicemail, but the next day when I felt safe enough to see that everything inside was in order, I listened to two voicemails. The first one was from my mom. She wasn't scared, she was just pissed off. She was yelling into the phone in Korean that she was coming to get me because she didn't trust me to drive around all the military vehicles, and my dad was yelling at her in the background, fucking terrified, and I guess it was because a walker came up and bit him, then came after my mom, and the phone dropped and I heard them being eaten.

"The second one was from Mike, and he was crying. He said he needed me to come pick him up right now because crazy people were running all around and one had bit him and he was hiding in the band room at his school. Then he hung up. They may've been alive then, but they aren't anymore." Glenn sighed. He thought about his family every day, but hadn't told anyone about them. It felt kind of nice to share that after all this time.

Jessica had tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry." Her voice was shaking a little. "Not knowing is horrible, but knowing _that…_"

"Don't cry. I lost my family but I gained a new one. And so have you." Glenn smiled.

Jessica chuckled, pulling her hand away to wipe the tears. "You say that like you're dancing on cloud nine."

"Well, I can't dance, so ha." Glenn came back with, hoping to lighten the mood.

Jessica gasped. "You can't dance?"

Glenn shook his head. "Sat out of every school dance, even my friend's weddings."

"Get up, right now. I'm teaching you how to dance." She got up and started rummaging around in the nightstand, coming out with a little gold iPod and a black iHome.

"What, you have the waltz on that thing?" Glenn mocked, standing up.

Jessica plugged it in and began scrolling through. "Bitch, I have Michael Bublé, that's who I have."

She stood back up and tossed Glenn's hat on the bed, holding his left hand, while setting his right on her hip and set her other on his shoulder when he heard the tell-tale sound of a Spanish band, and was soon pressed against every inch of his partner as she made him move.

'_When marimba rhythms start to play,__dance with me, make me sway__. L__ike a lazy ocean hugs the shore__, h__old me close, sway me more…'_

"See, you're just moving around, not that hard." Jessica smirked, holding back laughs while Glenn became increasingly awkward on his feet.

'_Like a flower bending in the breeze__, __bend with me, sway with ease.__When we dance you have a way with me__, s__tay with me, sway with me…'_

"Dear god, you really are terrible." She blurted out as Glenn all but stepped on his own foot.

"I told you, I cannot dance!" He grumbled back, refusing to move his feet.

Jessica hooked the cord of the iHome on her ankle and pulled, unplugging it, putting them both in silence. She looked back up at Glenn with a challenging smirk on her face. "So what _are _you good at?"

Before Glenn even knew what he was doing, his arms were pulling Jessica up and against him and his lips were on hers, smashing hard enough to bruise. She made a little noise before wrapping her arms around his neck and opening her mouth, sliding her tongue out. Glenn thought with a feeling of triumph that even during the apocalypse, he could score. Then all thoughts were erased from his head as Jessica grinded her hips against Glenn's, a groan coming from deep in his throat. His lips moved from Jessica's to her neck where he bit down, hard, earning a gasp from Jessica, who pushed him down onto the bed.

"Dude, clothes off, now." She panted as she shut and lock the door, pulling off her shirt—more tattoos—and dipping into the bathroom. Glenn could hear her rummaging around as he pulled his shirt over his head and worked on his belt and jeans when he heard "Found it!" and then a condom was tossed at his head.

She was just crawling on top of him again when they heard Sophia scream downstairs.


End file.
